Entertainment gossip and news from Newsweek’s network of contributors
Taylor Swift is, by many metrics, an enormous superstar.
At 34 years old, she was already the most-streamed artist on Spotify in 2023. She holds the record for most “Album of the Year” Grammys. But her groundbreaking Eras Tour is a game-changer unto itself. The European leg of the tour ended on Tuesday, August 21, with a sold-out performance at Wembley Stadium. Just how many records has the world-spanning, multi-album tour now set and broken?
Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images
It literally shook the earth
While dancing to “Shake It Off” in Seattle, WA on July 22 and 23 of 2023, CNN reported that Swifties caused seismic activity comparable to a 2.3 Richter scale earthquake. When compared to a similar event, the “Beast Quake” created when Seattle Seahawks fans cheered for a particularly epic touchdown, seismologist Jackie Caplan-Auerbach told the outlet that “the shaking was twice as strong as ‘Beast Quake.’ It absolutely doubled it.”
The opening night had more attendees than any other female artist in the country
Glendale, Arizona was home to the first night of Eras, and it broke Madonna’s thirty-year record for most attendees. 69,000 people showed up to sing along to “All Too Well,” while Madonna drew a crowd of 63,000, Capital FM reported. She’s continued to break her own record throughout the tour.
Swift was the biggest thing that ever happened to Pittsburgh, PA
Swift announced to her fans on June 17, 2023 that they had made quite a mark on their hometown. “Apparently, you have broken the attendance record for any event in Pittsburgh ever. No group of people this big has ever gotten together for one thing in Pittsburgh ever.”
Even if they couldn’t see her live, fans shelled out ticket money at the movie theaters
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour is the highest-grossing concert movie of all time, according to Variety. It earned $37 million in presales on its first day, ultimately breaking AMC’s single-day advance ticket sales record.
The tour made Taylor Swift the highest-earning female musician of all time
Taylor Swift now has a net worth of $1.1 billion, thanks in part to the Eras income. The Week noted that she’s the first musician to break a billion with her music alone.
She’s played Wembley Stadium more times in a single tour than any other artist
By spanning eight nights at the historic stadium, which holds 90,000 people, Swift broke a record previously held by Michael Jackson. Every night was sold out.
The movie version was nominated for a Golden Globe
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour was the first concert movie to ever receive a Golden Globe nomination. It was nominated in the brand-new category of “Best Cinematic and Box Office Achievement,” although it lost to Barbie.
Ticketmaster will never be the same
The “Cruel Summer” singer drew 3.5 million people to register on Ticketmaster in order to buy tickets.
She’s sold more tickets than any other artist in a single day
Another fun fact from Ticketmaster? Despite technical difficulties that led to legal challenges, more than 2 million tickets were purchased on the first day they were available.
It’s the highest-grossing tour of all time
The exact financial stats of The Eras Tour are still not public information, but Time has estimated that the shows will gross $2.165 billion. If you were curious, the second-highest grossing tour is Elton John’s multi-year Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour. That series of concerts grossed a paltry (by comparison) $939 million.